Tanzania netball chief says it all over success

The Tanzania netball Association (Chaneta) Secretary General, Rose Mkisi, has said it all; it is not how long a team stays in a residential training camp, but rather how many top-flight friendly matches the team has played that determine success.

Rose said this on the morning of September 21^st this year (2011) during her interview with Radio One Stereo sports caster, Maulid Kitenge when she was explaining reasons which led to Taifa Queens’ (national netball team) victory in the just ended All Africa Games held in Maputo, Mozambique.

She said Taifa Queens’ success which saw them finish second after being narrowly beaten by Uganda to win a silver medal was a result of three years of preparations.

“The medal our girls have won is a result of three years of hard work which took the team to various countries, both for competitions and training purposes…the countries included Singapore, South Africa and Manchester, in Britain,” she said.

Rose paid glowing tribute to the chairman of the IPP Media, Reginald Mengi, who had single handedly organized a netball international tournament that helped in shaping up Taifa Queens.

“Whenever we went to seek assistance in the form funding for the team’s passage abroad from some private institutions, some thought that we were obsessed with foreign trips…little did they know that we wanted to give our nascent side the much needed experience,” she said.

Rose said the numerous top-flight friendly matches against foreign teams they had at home and abroad finally helped in inculcating confidence into his girls. “They finally got used to playing against big crowds,” she stressed.

She said some of the teams they beat on their way to the final, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, were teams Taifa Queens had lost heavily against in the past.

“Zambia who had narrowly beaten us on our way to the top, were surprised when they finished third, behind us…both Botswana and South Africa who had in the past literally walked over us, were also surprised that they could no longer beat us,” she said.

The point Rose was making was very simple, that as long as a team put hard work on their training and was also provided with numerous high profile friendly matches, it can easily beat teams that had initially appeared unbeatable.

The story of Taifa Queens and their visionary secretary general is unfortunately the same story some of us have tried to sell to their brothers, the Tanzania Football Federation, TFF.

The TFF has repeatedly been told that their team, Taifa Stars, will never get anywhere as long as they are not exposed to many quality friendly matches at home and abroad!

Four years ago, Taifa Stars through the TFF was given a total of 2.4bn/- by Serengeti Breweries and the National Micro Finance Bank, NMB, in sponsorship.

Although the money was not misused, however, it was not directed towards getting quality foreign teams for testing Taifa Stars as the latter prepared for the Africa Nations Cup (Afcon) and World Cup qualifiers.

Year in, year out, Tanzanians witnessed Taifa Stars spending more time in residential camps instead of travelling abroad to take on their counterparts as part of their training programme.

And the result has been the team’s repeated failure to get anywhere for the simple reason that such lopsided programmes have not helped, in any way, in imparting the much needed experience to the players.

There are numerous examples which show that apart from investing in juvenal soccer, the second surest way of building a well drilled soccer team is to expose it to as many high quality local and international friendly matches as possible.

And the example is again provided by none other than Rose who said in that interview that while their counterparts had spent between three and four months in residential camps, Taifa Queens had spent only 28 days but played many matches at home and abroad.

Therefore one hopes that the TFF leadership will emulate their Chaneta counterpart by providing Taifa Stars with as many high quality friendly matches as possible.

But because Taifa Stars does not have the kind of pedigree that could draw top-flight national teams from other countries to Dar es Salaam, they should not wait for such friendly matches at home, they will never get it as it has proved times and again!

What they need to do is pursue such teams in their own backyards, and because it is us who want to benefit from such exposure, TFF should go even further by paying for the team’s accommodation.

Indeed, it is only by being ready to sacrifice for the team’s sake that Taifa Stars would be able to earn the much needed international exposure that will take it to places.

There is absolutely no way that a team like Bafana Bafana (South Africa) can turn down Taifa Stars’ request for one or more friendly matches anywhere in South Africa as long as the TFF says that it will meet its team’s expenses, passage and accommodation.

How can South Africa say no to such request given the kind of political relations that Tanzania has had with Mandela’s land since the days of freedom fighting?

Talking about political relations, it is time Tanzanians made full use of its bilateral relations forged during the days of political struggle.

For instance, Botswana which has just qualified for the Afcon finals was barely three decades ago a member of the Frontline States under the chairmanship of Tanzania.

Has the TFF fully exploited Botswana and other former Frontline States such as Zambia and later Angola and Mozambique?

By Attilio Tagalile  

Of power blues and Ngeleja's press conference

The Minister for Energy and Minerals, William Ngeleja on Sunday, Augast 4^th, this year (2011) summoned a press conference in Dar es Salaam and announced that beginning Tuesday, August 6^th this year, 137.5 megawatts would be injected into the national grid.

The minister said the move would greatly help in reducing, quite considerably, the present power rationing in the country.

Of course, Ngeleja’s news was a good piece of information, especially coming at a time when power rationing is not only a nuisance, but has literally reduced the country’s economy into shambles!

Unfortunately for Tanzanians, this is not the first time that they are being told what in all intends and purposes appears to be a good news and by the same person.

For the same man who had chosen Sunday as a day for breaking out his news, is the same man who was once quoted by the media as saying that power rationing would sooner than later be history!

That was many months back and the rest, as they say, is history; for Tanzanians have not only been subjected to untold power outages.

But until the minister came up with the latest development, there have been all signs that it was just a matter of time before the country plunged into total darkness!

Since the minister’s dramatic press conference, has the projected 137.5 megawatts brought any changes to the country’s power outages?

The truth is the situation has grown from bad to worse, and as far as Dar es Salaam residents are concerned, the minister’s announcement has turned out into another hoax!

Therefore when the parliamentary of the energy committee, Mr January Makamba a few days ago said that he doubted the ministry’s ability to solve the power crisis as it had promised, he was confirming what most Tanzanians had long feared!

Yet when one looks back over problems Tanzania has been going through, as far as power is concerned, we would not have been where we are had the ministry not interfered in the Tanzania Electric Supply Company’s work.

Indeed, it would be recalled that it all happened when it became apparent that the country required a stopped gap measure in its power supply following prolonged drought that reduced, quite considerably, Tanzania’s hydro fired power.

Instead of leaving the job of getting fuel or gas fired power plants to the experts as represented by Tanesco, the ministry brought on board a briefcase company by the name of Richmond which at the end of the day failed to deliver!

And as if that was not bad enough, the fake company handed its ‘business’ to another, equally dubious company, Dowans, hence marking the start of power woes in the country!

That was not the end of the story. Later Tanzanians were told that Dowans had been bought by an American company, and before the Tanzanian world knew what was going on, US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton was in town in connection with the new energy owners!

And suddenly local journalists who had turned Dowans into a whipping dog, elected to keep mum over who had pocketed American money after selling Dowans!

Since then, power blues appear to have come here to stay, and it would require an intelligent, focused and very committed leader to take Tanzania out of its present mess.

The power mess Tanzania is presently locked in can be likened to what the former minister for finance during the first phase government, Mr Amir Jamal, once told a Tanzanian journalist.

Asked to comment on what he thought about Tanzania, Mr Jamal said, “the state of its economy could be compared to that of a truck that has sank in mud and was devoid of pressure in all its tires!”

And for the truck to get out of the mud, Jamal told his questioner, it would require to fill in the tyres with pressure before thinking hauling the truck from the mud it was stuck in!

Jamal who died and was buried in Canada over two decades ago was commenting on Tanzania’s state of the economy immediately after its war with Dictator Idi Amin Dada.

Mwalimu Nyerere had called on Tanzanians, immediately after the war, to brace up for eighteen months of hardship.

The professed eighteen months of hardship however, later turned out into a decade of economic hardship, forcing the government into the waiting hands of the International Monetary Finance, IMF!

One wonders what Mr Jamal would have said about Tanzania’s economy today had he been around!

It is important to raise Mr Ngeleja’s pronouncement because since he said what he said a few days ago, power rationing continues unabated!

When the energy and minerals minister spoke to the media three weeks ago, his pronouncement was couched in finality, ‘beginning tomorrow’ the nation will experience change in power supply…’

Unfortunately the nation is yet to experience the change apart from statements to the effect that the change is set to come gradually, according to a section of the media reports carried on Wednesday, August 7^th 2011!

When the government, through Ngeleja spoke about power rationing becoming history in this country, it did not take long before the country was plunged into the most telling power outages in history.

For the first time in the country’s history, the nation was told about factories/companies that had decided to close shop on account of power rationing.

But just when the nation appears to be getting used to power woes, the minister responsible for energy and minerals comes up with a statement to the effect that there will be considerable reduction in power rationing in the country!

 By Attilio Tagalile

Of bumper harvest and Tanzania leaders' doublespeak

At least four regions in the southern part of Tanzania which were once known as the big four because of their massive food production-Iringa, Mbeya, Ruvuma and Rukwa, have more or less recovered their erstwhile fame.

They are teeming with maize harvest at a time when the northern part of the country is not very much endowed with food this time around, and neighbouring Kenya to the north and Somalia to Kenya’s north-eastern part are facing famine!

Unlike Somalia which has for years reeled under clan wars making part of the country ungovernable, Kenya is a member of the newly revived East African Community, EAC, with four other countries that include Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

However, Kenya’s close relations with Tanzania through the EAC, has not helped her in getting food from its southern neighbour following the latter’s decision to ban food export outside Tanzania!

And the ban was announced by none other than the very man who has lately been preaching about the importance for Tanzanians to shed off xenophobia, Prime Minister, Mizengo Pinda!

The prime minister who hails from Rukwa Region which is leading the big four in maize harvest, is presently sagging under the weight of harvests from three past seasons!

In fact, Rukwa has so much maize that farmers in the region have been forced to store their harvests in opon grounds, football pitches and schools!

Before the government announced the ban of maize export, a number of trucks from Kenya had attempted to drive through the country, but were stopped in their trail by Tanzanian authorities.

Farmers in the big four, and especially so, in Rukwa Region are meanwhile complaining bitterly over the Tanzanian government’s decision to stop neighbouring countries from buying their maize.

And like Rukwa farmers, many Tanzanians are presently questioning their government’s logic in banning maize export, especially when rains for the next season are just around the corner.

For instance, just last week, the country’s directorate of meteorology announced that Tanzania will experience rains this month.

The weather men whose forecasts have always left a lot to be desired, this time around worked out well as a couple of regions, including the coastal belts have already started experiencing rains.

Most of the southern part of the country that include the big four, expect to start getting serious rains from November upwards, that is, barely two months away!

Kenya which is one of the most hard hit countries in terms of food shortage is also one of the countries which is endowed with financial resources.

And at one time Kenyan businessmen were ready to part with fortune for Tanzanian maize and if you consider the fact that one kenyan shilling is worth 17 Tanzanian shillings, farmers in southern part of Tanzania would have managed to make a kill for their maize harvest.

Unfortunately that has not come to pass and the Kenyan government must now be working hard to import maize from elsewhere for its starving people, and all that is simply because Tanzanian government officials appear to have all of sudden stopped thinking!

But while the prime minister accuses his people of being xenophobic, he is putting the very accusation he is leveling on his people, in practice, by stopping his own farmers (that include his own region) from seizing the golden opportunity of bettering their lives through the sale of their maize to starving people across the border!

However, a critically analysis of Tanzania leaders’ behavior shows that they are not stranger to such macabre decisions!

For instance, while they preach the importance of the EAC in their political pulpits, the same leaders have denied 15,000 retired employees of the defunct EAC their rightful terminal benefits!

During the third phase reign of President Benjamin Mkapa, the latter promised to pay the 15,000 their terminal benefits.

After meeting leaders of the 15,000 retirees, both parties settled for 450bn/- in terminal benefits with payment ranging from 20m/- to over 100m/-.

However, when the implementation of the exercise came, only 117bn/- were paid and as if that was not bad enough, the number of retirees was raised, for reasons only known to the government, from 15,000 to 21,000!

Therefore the same government that had the audacity of signing an agreement on the revival of the EAC is the same government that decided to shortchange its own 15,000 retirees of their terminal benefits!

And the very person who re-entered Tanzania into the EAC, Mr Mkapa was barely two days ago at it, this time telling Tanzanians there was no need for them to worry over land as land was in galore!

This means that had he been in power this time around, he would have made a point of ensuring that foreigners had their hands on our land!

And for any doubting Thomas, consider this: This is the very man who got the country into those mineral contracts which have left this nation poorer and now he has the audacity of telling Tanzanians that they have enough land, meaning that they can just allow foreigners to come in and get it as there is adequate land for all of us!

 

'By Attilio Tagalile

Ikangaa laments over Tanzania's poor sports performance

Tanzania Peoples Defence Force (TPDF), Colonel, Juma Ikangaa strongly believes that Tanzania’s failure to do well in sports, and athletics in particular, is due to our deliberate decision to ban sports in schools during the third phase government.

The former Fukuoka (Japan) marathon winner who is known to the Japanese more than any Tanzanian says when we decided to put a stop on national sports competitions at school level in 1990s, we marked the end of winning ways for the nation.

Indeed, it would be recalled that during 1990s, the then Minister for Education, Mr Joseph Mungai who is ironically himself an avid sports lover and practitioner, banned sports in schools, hence bringing national schools sports competitions such as UMISETA to an end.

Since then, the nation has failed miserably to do well in regional, continental and international sporting arena!

Ikangaa says; “When Giddamas Shahanga won a gold medal during the Commonwealth Games in 1978, he had just been discovered in the national schools championships.”

The former New York marathon winner further says that for any country to do well in sports, it is important that it introduced its children to sports, “we have to catch them when they are still young and there is nothing that is suited for that than schools…”

Ikangaa recalls that during his school days, there were numerous cases of fellow students who were given the opportunity of continuing with their studies in higher forms even if they had not done well in some of their respective subjects.

He said this was done simply because they were avid sportsmen and women.

“During our days, teachers strongly believed that pupils who did well in sports were also more likely to do well in academic subjects.”

The senior army officer says that the country’s present medal drought, especially in athletics, is due to the absence of robust sports organization in schools.

He says there is no reason why Kenyans should be doing fantastically in athletics when both the weather and the physical features of the area they came from is similar to that a section of some Tanzanians come from.

For instance, he says Kenyans who have been doing well in middle and long distances, are herders and come from the Rift Valley which extends into Tanzania, running across the country to the southern highland regions.

“What we ought to do is divide our country into zones…for instance, the coastal belt where both men and women have big thighs are good for short distance running…what we need to do is provide these people with the technical know-how in the form of instructors for sprints,” he says.

He said once the country was divided into different zones, the second move would be to get requisite instructors for different sports in the different allotted zones.

He said there were for instance regions which were known for producing very good footballers.

In the past, he said, such regions included Morogoro, Kigoma, Tabora and Tanga.

And talking about sports instructors, he said this was another area where the nation had sabotaged, probably without knowing what it was doing.

He recalls in the past when the ministry of education took the took a front lead in training of physical education instructors for schools.

“We are no longer churning out physical educationists for schools and this has, to a large extent, led to our present problem, drought in international sports success,” he says.

Ikangaa says the third problem that led to the fall of sports fortunes in Tanzania was caused by the Bretton Woods institutions, namely, the World Bank and the International Monery Fund, IMF.

He said when the World Bank and the IMF came up with what came to be referred to as the structural adjustment programs in the late 1980s, the first casualty was sports.

“Implementation of structural adjustment programs came at a time when public institutions in the country like banks, harbours, insurance, national housing and the likes had very strong sporting teams…” he said.

“Therefore when it was decided to streamline the economy, the foregoing public institutions were forced to do away with their sports teams, hence forcing some of the sportsmen and women who had been engaged purely for sports purposes to be jettisoned,” he said.

However, Ikangaa also takes a swipe at journalists in the country whom he says could have helped in the development of sports if they approached their writing more scientifically which he describes as pin-pointing problems afflicting sports and coming up with solutions to such problems.

“However, for journalists to play the role of sports redeemer effectively, it is important that they first and foremost informed themselves in sports.”

He argues that one cannot write on something that one knows very little or nothing about.

Ikangaa attributes other problems which have contributed to the country’s failure to do well in sports to falling educational standards and more importantly, lack of reading culture.

“It is very unfortunate that whoever you see reading his or her work is directly related to what one is reading, say a journalist or lawyer or one is preparing for this or that examination,” says Ikangaa visibly disturbed.

That being the case, then what is the way out of the malaise? Ikangaa says there is a need on the part of the government to make deliberate effort to ensure that sports become a permanent feature in schools.

Secondly, he says, there is a need to re-introduce sports competitions at district, regional and national level.

He says during Taifa Cup tournaments, Tanzanians were able to get players they had missed through national schools soccer championships through the regional national soccer tournament.

On argument about the need for sporting associations in the country to be led by sportsmen and women, Ikangaa says the argument is hollow as long as such sportsmen and women lack sound academic education.

He says one of the tragedies was that most of sporting associations were being led by people whose primary aim was not development of sports, but rather personal, to lineup their pockets!

By Attilio Tagalile 

Taifa Queens finally kill the jinx

After years of medal drought, Tanzania finally won a medal, silver, this week in the on-going 2011 All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, through its netball team, Taifa Queens.

The last time Tanzania won medals in the same Games that is worth writing home about was in 1973 when Filbert Bayi bagged a gold in 1500 metres.

In one of the world’s athletic upsets, Filbert Bayi, beat Kenya’s living athletic legend, former Police Inspector, Kipchoge Keino when the Games were held in Lagos, Nigeria.

Bayi’s victory apart, the young Tanzanian who had just a few months back switched from playing in goal into athletic, gave the world another first, what has now come to be known as front-running in long distance running.

Until then, world athletic beaters that included, among others, Kip Keino, Jim Ryun (1500), Naftali Temu (10,000 metres, Kenya), Bikila Abebe (the first man from Africa to win Olympic marathon during the 1960 Rome Olympics, and Mamo Wolde (all from Ethiopia) preferred to stay at the back before they finally broke away from the pack to win their respective races.

However, when Bayi invaded the athletic world, he turned all that upside down, launching the world into front running.

A few years later, he was followed by countryman, Juma Ikangaa who used to lead the pack, in marathon, from start to finish.

Juma Ikangaa’s athletic exploits helped in advertising Tanzania in Japan more than what any Tanzanian diplomat had done in history, according former Tanzania ambassador to Japan, Mr Lukindo.

In fact, it was through Ikangaa’s marathon fame that Tanzania was given a piece of land (in a country where a piece of land is very difficult to get) in Japan to build its embassy!

Apart from Bayi’s medal, pugilist, Habib Kinyogoli also carted home a medal, a bronze in his featherweight division in the same Lagos Games.

In fact, in the same year, Tanzania could have won its third medal in boxing in the middleweight division, had hard punching Titus Simba not been disqualified from the competition on weight problems.

Barely three years back, in 1970, Simba had won a silver medal in the same weight when he lost, controversially, to British boxer, John Conteh, during the final in the Commonwealth Games held in Edinburgh, Scotland.

From then onwards, save for the 1978 gold medal won in marathon by Giddamas Shahanga during a Commonwealth Games, and the Fukuoka marathon won by the midget TPDF Colonel, Juma Ikangaa, Tanzanians have miserably failed to shine in continental and international championships.

Therefore the historic Taifa Queens victory comes at a time when this nation appears to have completely lost hope of winning any medal in international championships.

What makes the national netball team’s victory both historic and unique is that this is a team that has received the least assistance both from the government and the Tanzanian corporate world!

Yet despite being accorded very little assistance compared to footballers (men), they have made Tanzanians proud.

Taifa Queens’ victory is a further pointer both to the government and the Tanzanian corporate world that it is perhaps time they reviewed their assistance policy to sports teams in the country.

As already noted, football, and in particular, Taifa Stars, have for over a decade now received a lion’s share of assistance.

But the best they have done to their country is repeatedly let the us down!

Interestingly, another team that has done quite well despite being accorded very little assistance both by the government and the Tanzanian corporate world is women’s national soccer team, Twiga Stars.

With more assistance, Twiga Stars could equally do well. The same thing can be more or less said about another team, national amateur boxing team which has a lot of potential, but have always been let down by lack of assistance.

At one time Tanzanian boxers were left without food as they prepared for international championships!

While women in the political arena have been talking hoarse about the need to be given special seats in the parliament, their sporting sisters have to the contrary not begged for favours!

They have instead worked, in the words of former Zambian President, Frederick Chiluba, like electricicy; silently, as rightly illustrated by Taifa Queens!

Through their historic victory, Taifa Queens have killed the jinx in the same way Theresa Dismas did during the same Games in 1965, namely, opened winning ways for Tanzanian men!

Perhaps it would also be timely to remind ourselves of the fact that the first international medal in the sports arena to be won by Tanzania as a nation was won not by a man, but rather by a Tanzanian woman, Theresa Dismas and the event was in Javelin during the All Africa Games held in Congo Brazaville in 1965!

Theresa Dismas’ victory would later open the field for victories in international sports arena by the likes of Titus Simba, Filbert Bayi, Habib Kinyogoli, Giddamas Shahanga, Juma Ikangaa and others.

In fact, at one time, from the late 1970s to 1980s, Tanzanians were so good in long distance running that they joined Kenyans, Ethiopians and Moroccans as long distance specialists in the world.

Tanzania’s name in international athletics took to the sky in 1974 when Bayi won not only a gold medal in the 1500 metres during the Commonwealth Games held in Christchurd, New Zealand, but went on to break a world record in the even when he set 3minutes, 32.2 seconds, a record that held sway for seven years!

To win the event, Bayi beat the world’s most spoken and written about athlete, John Walker, who had been touted to win the event.

By beating the then most feared man in the world in the event, Walker, that also saw the participation of another legend, Australia’s Ron Clarke, Filbert Bayi proved to the world that his victory against Kenya’s nicknamed, bicycle, Kip Keino, had not been a fluke after all.

By Attilio Tagalile

Of MV Bukoba and Spice Islander

As had been widely expected, the Zanzibar government has said it will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to ensure that the Spice Islander incident does not happen again.

Apparently leaving no stone unturned has become a standard response by officials from the powers that be whenever tragedies strike either part of the United Republic of Tanzania.

It would be recalled that the Union government said the same thing when over 800 people drowned in Lake Victoria after the MV Bukoba capsized in May 1996.

However, going through a well documented article (published by The Citizen) on isles’ marine accidents by a seasoned BBC Correspondent, Ally Saleh, one comes up with one impression, and that is, like the Union government, the Zanzibar government learns nothing from such mishaps!

The same thing could be more or less said about the MV Bukoba accident. Many people have continued to perish on the lake although in a smaller scale, reflecting the Union government’s failure to learn from the past accident that drew the attention of the international community.

A day after the Spice Islander incident, the isles government sought assistance in the form of divers from  South Africa and Kenya, the same thing that the Union government did as the MV Bukoba accident lasted!

Fifteen years after the MV Bukoba accident, Tanzanian governments continue to seek divers from Kenya and South Africa, once again reflecting their failure to learn from past tragedies!

After the MV Bukoba accident, one would have hoped that the Union government would have ensured that its navy, which is a Union matter, would have by now had hard-nosed divers.

Unfortunately it has not done that, and the result is that the two countries continue to depend on divers from Kenya and South Africa!

Perhaps a question that ought to be directed to both governments is does it really make sense for a country as big as Tanzania and with 1424 kilometers (885miles) of coastline to have a navy that does not have trained divers?

According to the local media, when the South African divers arrived in the country a few days ago, they could not be deployed to the ill-fated ship as it had sank further down where it is alleged that the area was out of bound for divers due to its depth that is said to be over 300 metres.

The point is, had we had divers from our own navy, they could have immediately worked on the ship before it sank further down, hence getting to the surface bodies of those who had been trapped inside the ship.

But since we did not have local divers, we once again sought assistance from abroad, and that took time, hence our failure to get what we wanted!

Therefore the same problem that the nation found itself in, namely procrastination coupled with the absence of local divers during the MV Bukoba accident, revisited Zanzibar when the Spice Islander sank.

But a critical analysis of our navy shows that our problem does not only revolve around lack of divers, but we also lack requisite vessels (frigates) for policing our territorial waters.

This explains why whenever our territorial waters in the Indian Ocean is confronted with problems of foreign fishing vessels and Somali pirates, the Tanzania always seeks assistance from South African navy.

However, if one asked the government why it was not buying a frigate both for defending its territorial waters and saving hundreds of Tanzanians who perish every year in the Indian Ocean in the course of fishing, the government is certain to tell you that it does not have money!

Yet this is nothing but a question of how one balances priorities.

Indeed, even governments like South Africa which own fleets of warships, apparently some of their frigates are not new, they bought them as used for the same reason, lack of funds for buying new vessels.

My assertions are not based on hearsay, but facts I obtained when a South African frigate accompanied with a couple of supply ships made a courtesy call at the Dar es Salaam port in the late 1990s.

I spoke to the naval commander who told me that they had bought their frigate in his words, “for a very good price from Russia”, and that it was not new… but it was still in very good conditions.

The commander explained that after political problems in the then Soviet Union, the super power had numerous such ships that she was now selling to needy countries and for good prices.

After talking to the South African frigate commander, I had tried to interview the Tanzanian naval commander with the objective of selling him the idea I had just learnt from the South African, but the Tanzanian commander shut me out!

If a journalist can get such important information, then one would have expected the hosts, in this case the Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces, TPDF, would be in a better position not only to get better information, but also to help their government in getting such vessels for policing our territorial waters in the Indian Ocean.

For it is only by increasing the TPDF’s capacity to defend and protect its coastline that can at the end of the day not only reduce Tanzania’s dependency on South African naval force, but also increase its rapid response to marine accidents such as the one that happened in Nungwi a few days ago.

It is important for both governments to bear in mind that when we talk of the country’s success or otherwise as we are about to mark 50 years of Tanganyika’s independence, such success also include our ability to protect lives!

Unfortunately for us, the Nungwi marine accident shows that despite the MV Bukoba accident in which over 800 lives were lost, to date the nation appears to have not learnt anything from the macabre incident!

And there are all signs, according to the Civic United Front, CUF, that the Nungwi marine accident may have lost over 1000 lives!

Perhaps what is more unfortunate is that like the Mbagala and Gongolamboto bomb blasts, no one has taken political responsibility for the Nungwi marine accident!

By Attilio Tagalile

Massive sporting lessons for Tanzania from kenya

Kenyan athletes last week produced historic performance to finish third after United States and Russia when they bagged in 17 medals out of which seven were gold during the just ended World Championships held in Daegu, South Korea.

Through their breathtaking performance, Kenya becomes the first African country to finish third in the history of the world athletics championship.

Kenya produced history within history, when they produced one, two, three in marathon, one of the rarest feats in athletics, hence stamping their authority in long distance running in the world.

Both Tanzania and Uganda were represented in the championships, but the former returned home, as expected, empty handed and as usual with long tales of excuses.

The world athletics championships ended one day before Tanzania took on Algerians in an African soccer qualifier in which Taifa Stars were held to a one-all draw in a match played at the National Stadium.

Although self-styled soccer pundits have come up with numerous stories over Taifa Stars’ performance, the truth still remains that Tanzanians are out of the Afcon finals.

Apart from doing quite commendably in the South Korean international meet, Kenya’s national soccer team, Harambee Stars are likely to qualify for the Afcon finals.

But unlike Harambee Stars, Uganda’s (the Cranes) qualification for the Afcon finals is almost guaranteed, hence leaving Tanzania which first qualified for Afcon finals in 1980 still in the woods!

And less than three months from now, Tanzania Mainland, which had been a mandated territory under the British, would be marking 50 years since she attained her independence on December 9^th 1961.

Major plans by the government are already underway to ensure that the national celebrations are organized in such a manner that they befit the occasion.

And in Tanzania’s parlance, that can only mean one thing, expenditure of staggering amount of money in the name of marking the auspicious occasion!

But for any celebrations to make sense, it is important that merry making which usually takes a variety of forms that include, among others, dancing and sporting activities, are organized.

Such an important occasion would have made a lot of sense had Tanzania qualified for the Afcon finals which would be kicking off in January next year (2012).

Had the government been serious about its planned merry making at the end of this year, it would have spent the money currently set aside for the occasion in ensuring that Taifa Stars qualified for the Afcon finals.

Unfortunately it (Tanzania) did not do that and the end result is that Tanzania Mainland would be marking half a century of its independence without any major silverware in its sporting arena!

Apart from wining less than five medals in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Ednburgh, Scotland and Christchurch, New Zealand in 1974 and the All Africa Games in Lagos, Nigeria in 1973, through Titus Simba (in boxing), Filbert Bayi and Nyambui (in athletics), Tanzania Mainland has nothing to write home about!

Even newcomers to the African family like South Africa which gained its majority rule in May, 1993, have beaten Tanzania in terms of sporting supremacy!

For to date, South Africa holds three major titles after winning the Rugby World Cup in 1995 through its rugby national team, the Springbok (mabokoboko), the Africa Nations Cup and African Club Champions through their national soccer team, Bafana Bafana (the boys) and one of its soccer clubs, Orlando Pirates respectively and all in 1996.

Whilst Tanzania continues to fumble in one international tournament after another, former sporting minnows like Botswana have finally joined the continent’s soccer elites after qualifying for the Afcon finals.

Others who are on the verge of qualifying for the Afcon finals include Libya and Niger, the latter despite being involved in a war aimed at deposing Muammar Ghadaffi!

But when one looks critically at all the foregoing countries, one thing comes out, and that is Uganda, Kenya, Botswana, Libya, Niger and South Africa are doing well in sports both in the continent and the world at large because their economies are more organized than that of Tanzania.

Tanzania will never do well in sports as long as major actors in the field are not well organized; for sports, just like any business activity, requires certain approach, an organized, disciplinary approach which is for inexplicable reasons is badly lacking in this country!

In football, a team cannot win any game if its management does not invest in the team through youth development soccer programmes in the form of soccer academies.

Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, Niger and Libya are already reaping rewards from their sweat because they had invested in youth soccer programmes and the foregoing countries already have players plying their wares abroad in quality clubs.

Unless Tanzanians start looking at sports and football in particular, as business, they will never get anywhere!

And much as a highly qualified coach like Jan Poulsen is important, yet one should not expect such a coach to train national players in football basics!

The point is, those who qualify for selection in the national team are supposed to be complete players, fully equipped in all that a footballer is supposed to know that include, among others, formations.

Indeed, one does not bring a person of Poulsen’s stature to train soccer players on how to execute, for instance, wall passes and the likes!

On the contrary, you bring Poulsen to impart on the players tactics for winning a given game.

Tanzania has lately witnessed expenditure of a lot of money, at club level, in buying players from outside Tanzania.

 While the practice is not bad, yet members ought to exercise some caution lest the exercise is used by some unscrupulous club officials as conduit for siphoning money from clubs through the purchase of sub-standard players.

However, when all is said and done, establishment of soccer academies by clubs and businessmen and women remain the best and proven way of developing soccer in the country.

 By Attilio Tagalile

Taifa Stars' poor performance reflection of our leaders, economy!

As had been widely expected, Taifa Stars are out of the run for Africa Cup of Nations finals (AFCON) after being held to a one all draw by their Algerian counterparts, the Desert Warriors.

A few weeks ago, I noted in these columns, that it was just a matter of time before Taifa Stars are booted out of the Afcon qualifications for lack of down to earth preparations for the team.

My argument was very simple; the team cannot get anyway as long as it not given top-flight international friendly matches.

Indeed, much as the coach has all credentials for training and managing Taifa Stars, but that was not enough.

The team required top-flight international friendly matches that would, among others, inculcate self-belief on the players.

Interestingly, whenever the Tanzania Football Federation, TFF, came up with a possible date and name of the country Taifa Stars were supposed to play against, within days of such announcement, the game fell through for a variety of reasons!

And by the time the national soccer team took on the Algerians on Saturday, they had not played any quality friendly match against any team!

Yet curiously, some people, and that include the TFF (otherwise they would not have allowed the team to play) still nursed hopes that Taifa Stars could pull out something from the game!

In fact, Taifa Stars one all draw against the Algerians was not a result of training the team underwent at the hands of the Danish coach, Poulsen, but rather due to contribution made by players who are presently playing outside the country where football is taken more seriously!

Yet it would be utterly wrong for anyone to blame the Danish coach for Taifa Stars’ woes.

As I had occasion to point out in my last article, experience in other countries that include Bafana Bafana (the boys) of South Africa, shows that one of the best routes to success is through subjecting a national soccer team in a series of top-flight friendly matches.

The South Africans bagged their first Afcon in 1996 in Johannesburg after playing over 60 international friendly matches against some of the best national soccer teams in the world in a less than three years.

And by the time the tournament resumed in January 1996, Bafana Bafana was the best prepared national team in the tournament.

It is through international friendly matches that players get used to one another apart from affording the coach the opportunity of noting down his players’ problems and hence correcting them.

Secondly, constant international friendly matches against good teams at home and abroad help in giving the players confidence.

The players eventually get used to playing under different atmosphere that include hostile foreign crowds.

However, the problem with soccer managers in this country is that they sit at home, expecting somebody somewhere to provide friendly matches for them!

In short, they don’t look for friendly matches, and that is why when the so called Fifa (federation of international football association) agent failed to produce return tickets for the team in the planned friendly match against North Sudan, all fell in a heap!

The question is for how long are soccer fathers in this country going to wait for the proverbial manna?

In fact, if there is any time that Tanzania had the golden opportunity of qualifying for the Afcon finals but blew away its chance, it is this time.

Consider the following: Taifa Stars should have won both matches against the Algerians, something that would have given them a cool six points!

The other match Taifa Stars should have won on account of playing at home was the game against Morocco.

That match would have have given them three points, and by last Saturday, they could have had nine points in their kitty.

The rest could have been taken care of by other factors that include the draw between Central African Republic and Morocco over the weekend!

According to journalists who accompanied Taifa Stars in their away match against Central African team, the Tanzanians should have wrapped up that game.

However, lack of commitment on the part of the players led to their defeat in the dying minutes of the game.

Talking about lack of commitment, this problem is no longer in doubt. Some local journalists have raised this problem in the past, but now the issue has been taken up by players themselves.

For instance, in one of the local English dailies, Henry Joseph was quoted as expressing his disappointment over the results.

He blamed himself along with his colleagues for failing to make use of the numerous scoring opportunities that came their way during the match. 

Had the team been given even ten quality international friendly matches as part of their preparations for the tournament, Taifa Stars would have done better.

However, when one looks critically at the performance of our team, at the end of the day it is nothing but a reflection of our socio-economic performance!

 By Attilio Tagalile